USING RELIABILITY-CENTERED MAINTENANCE TO SUPPORT CORPORATE TQM OBJECTIVES

America's role as the world's supplier of manufactured goods has degraded to being that of the consumer. For the most part, we no longer are viewed or for that matter view ourselves as a manufacturer of quality products. Japan once the supplier of cheap toys and imitations is now the world's leader in consumer products. We, as Americans, must improve our Quality stature and regain the recognition we once held. While many avenues of opportunity exist, the only option assured of success is one in which the desires, needs and expectations of the customer are met. Our goal must be to achieve "Customer Satisfaction". Total Quality Management, TQM, is built on the concept that corporations can successfully determine what are indeed the needs of the customer and can then deploy down to the lowest levels of the organization its policies aimed at achieving those needs. All companies that produce a product are linked by a common thread. That thread is the machines that generate, mold, move, and assemble the various elements that are bought by the consumer. These machines are expected to be available and operate in a reliable manner. To do so, they have to be maintained. It is the very program deployed to maintain machines that is one of the links between what the customer wants and how the corporation meets those wants and needs. In the achievement of customer satisfaction through the production and delivery of Quality Goods it can be shown that Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) programs support corporate TQM objectives.